Suchergebnisse

Ensuring public participation in environmental decision making is advantageous to government officials and the general public. Technical assistance can make participation more effective by enabling citizens to understand complex technologies. This paper examines whether providing technical assistance has made a difference in New York City, where officials have funded consultants so that citizens can more effectively monitor the city's waste management and sludge disposal programs. While city-financed consultants have enabled citizen advisory groups to monitor environmental review and project design and to secure environmental improvements to proposed facilities, they have not helped to promote citizen acceptance of the technologies or their locations. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of alternative methods of providing technical assistance and suggests areas for further research.